![Security officials stand on a quayside in Boulogne after four migrants died in the Channel and 63 others were rescued](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2024/07/12/TELEMMGLPICT000385351227_17207964163470_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqKkzUGe8q7_A35DWV6BPUcf4Xpit_DMGvdp2n7FDd82k.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Four migrants die in attempt to cross Channel
At least 60 people said to have been rescued after small boat got into trouble following departure from north French coast
![Security officials stand on a quayside in Boulogne after four migrants died in the Channel and 63 others were rescued](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2024/07/12/TELEMMGLPICT000385351227_17207964163470_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqKkzUGe8q7_A35DWV6BPUcf4Xpit_DMGvdp2n7FDd82k.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Four migrants died after their dinghy capsized as they attempted to cross the Channel on Friday.
The French coastguard reported that 63 people were rescued after their small boat got into trouble after leaving the north French coast.
The four people who died were pulled unconscious from the water and could not be resuscitated by the emergency services.
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, said the further loss of life was “truly awful”, adding: “My thoughts are with all those affected.
“Criminal gangs are making vast profit from putting lives at risk. We are accelerating action with international partners to pursue and bring down dangerous smuggler gangs.”
The deaths were reported shortly after 7am on Friday. Emergency services were also deployed to the port of Boulogne, where some of the rescued migrants were taken.
At approximately 8am, around 20 people wrapped in survival blankets were sheltering in Capécure, near the quay in Boulogne. A rescue operation was ongoing.
![Emergency services were deployed to Boulogne, where some of the rescued migrants were taken](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2024/07/12/TELEMMGLPICT000385351223_17207963790230_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq3U9-D5U2JffhMhmF-FT3hhsWhjO-E44eGxF1VHV3vlw.jpeg?imwidth=350)
The French coastguard confirmed that the first reports of a vessel deflating in the strait came at 4.30am local time (3.30am BST). Rescue ships arrived on the scene 30 minutes later to find people clinging to the dinghy.
A medical team was winched aboard the French Navy ship Cormoran using a helicopter and taken to the scene.
Fourteen of the surviving migrants were taken back to Boulogne-sur-Mer by fishing vessel, with the remaining 49 rescued by the Minck coastguard ship. Another migrant dinghy is thought to have successfully made the crossing several hours before the tragedy.
It is the first Channel tragedy since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister last Friday, and happened days after he scrapped the Rwanda deportation scheme.
Home Office figures show 419 people made the journey in six boats on Tuesday, following 65 on Monday, taking the provisional total for 2024 to date to 14,058.
That is 10 per cent higher than the number recorded this time last year – 12,772 – and up six per cent on the same period in 2022 (13,318), according to government data.
James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary, said: “Reports of more deaths in the channel are a tragedy. As a country, we must do everything in our power to stop the boats and put an end to this vile trade in human suffering.”
While on his trip to Nato on Wednesday, Sir Keir admitted that the small boats crisis could get worse before it gets better and that numbers coming across the Channel are going up, not down.